Photography Tips For Your Road Trip
My husband waits patiently for me to take a picture, on the side of the road near Jackson, Wyoming.
A road trip is my ideal vacation (a fact many of you readers are probably amply aware of by now – there’s some link love at the end of this entry that demonstrates this obsession of mine). Even if my husband and I are flying somewhere, I still manage to work some sort of a driving trip into our final destination. I appreciate the ability to actually travel the miles. and see the environment. You can discover so much more about the country you live in or are visiting, and the world you live in, when you’re driving it and not flying over it.
A road trip provides excellent opportunities for photography. I am constantly pestering my husband (who is the one who usually drives) to pull of to the side of the road so I can take a picture of something. Like the photo above, which was me taking a picture of him, while he was waiting patiently in the truck after I finished taking photos of the surrounding area.
This photo of the Grand Tetons was taken from the road, during a brief slow-down in traffic.
Out-the-window road trip shots can be tricky because you’re moving and thereby creating a difficult environment from which to get a clear photograph. One tip is to roll down the window so you remove the risk of glare. Have the driver slow down as much as is possible under the circumstances, and use a very fast lens and/or shutter speed. Keep the camera’s strap around your neck if you have to lean out, and don’t point the lens directly into the wind so that you don’t get dust (and bug guts!) on it. Make sure your lens is affixed with a UV filter and hood, to protect it.
We rented a Harley for one day of our Wyoming road trip – I highly recommend it!
Make sure you choose a safe spot when pulling off to the side of the road to get a shot. Make sure to avoid any blind corners or hidden turn-offs. Get well off the road to put some distance between you and the passing traffic. Always pay attention to your surroundings. Ideally, use lookout points or rest areas, or other sites purposefully built to provide the opportunity to pull off the road.
Downtown Chicago, passenger seat perspective.
Keep your gear handy, not packed in the trunk or out of reach in the back seat. Things come up on you, and pass you by, at great speed when travelling by car. Use a telephoto lens to pull in subjects that the road doesn’t take you directly toward. Make sure the windows are up and the air vents are pointed away from you whenever you change lenses, to minimize the amount of dust that gets into the inner workings of your camera.
Examples of my road trip obsession:
How I planned our EPIC summer road trip (part 1)
How I planned our EPIC summer road trip (part 2)
How I planned our EPIC summer road trip (part 3)
How I planned our EPIC summer road trip (part 4)
What I Learned While Planning Our Road Trip
Scenes from Grand Teton National Park
Epic Summer Road Trip – A Summary
Eight Road Trip Pet Peeves
Arizona – A Motorcyclist’s Dream in Winter
Photo Credits (all): Tiffany Joyce.